I am hoping someone here can help me before I go totally nuts


Here’s the deal; I have been writing a book for over 4 years. It’s now finished. It’s in Word 2003 on a PC. I now need to simplify Word so that the book can be converted to Kindle format. I didn’t realise that I should use a Master Document right from the beginning (have never needed to before now). If you don’t do this then when the document is converted to Kindle format there are lots of mistakes and gaps where tab and space bar etc have been used. OK that’s part of the learning process. I’ll know next time.

Here’s the problem. I’m going to rebuild the doc in a master document with just three styles: Verdana 22pt, Verdana 16pt and Georgia 12p for the main text - that’s it, that’s all I need. However, when I build the doc it has loads of other fonts and styles in the style selector (some I used before) clogging up the list, so I then have to scroll just to get to my text style. All I want are the three styles, and bold and italic and be able to change quickly and easily (it’s a long document). Nothing else is necessary.

Can someone who knows tell me how to do this? I have already wasted far too much time (Word also managed to lose all my endnotes and footnotes when I combined chapters. Had to rebuild all from scratch). What a waste of time. SIGH

While I think of more to write, you should look at Master Documents "Feature."

Keeping in mind Master Documents "Feature" here are some thoughts.

1. Verdana 22pt, Verdana 16pt and Georgia 12p are fonts, not styles.
2. They can be part of a Style's definition.
3. If you want to risk Master Documents, you first really, really, really need to learn Styles. At a minimum, you need to learn about Paragraph Styles, Character Styles, and Heading Styles.

You've spent a lot of time on your book. Probably had you known these things when you started using Word it would have taken about a third the time. It is not too late to learn.


Basic Concepts of Microsoft Word - from Shauna Kelly

Understanding Styles in Microsoft Word

How to create numbered headings or outline numbering in Ribbon Versions of Word by Shauna Kelly

Numbering Front Matter (Ribbon)
Sections / Headers and Footers in Microsoft Word 2007-2013


If you are going to use Master Documents, you need to have all parts based on the same template with the same Styles, so you'll want to set that up first. Templates in Microsoft Word

Do all of your formatting using Styles.
Have backups that are not attached to the same computer or network.

Thank you. That's very helpful. I actually know what a font is (I did graphic design for a few years and studied art in college).

Which template would you say is best in Word 2003 for non-fiction book? Would it be best to just stick to an already made template and then use Find and Replace to change the Font sizes and type when all else is complete? I basically want to know best procedure before I begin remaking this book.

Before this I have never needed to delve very deeply into Word. It did what I wanted and that was sufficient. But a large non-fiction book with many footnotes and endnotes is an entirely different proposition.

There will be a sequel to this book and I will definitely make full use of styles for that.

Sincerely

Tony Smyth

If you value your work avoid 'Master Documents' like the plague (or ebola).

Conversion to Kindle format shouldn't require anything special if your document is properly formatted using Styles. Your reference to "gaps where tab and space bar etc have been used" suggests someone has been trying to use Word as a typewriter instead of as a word processor.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]